Cryoablation, the process of killing tissue using extreme cold, is a commonly used technique for treating many medical conditions, particularly those relating to cardiac arrhythmia. During cryoablation, a liquid refrigerant is circulated from a fluid source to a treatment element of a medical device, at which point the refrigerant may expand and cause a reduction in the temperature of the treatment element. For example, liquid refrigerant may be delivered to a balloon of a cryoablation device, and the balloon may have a larger volume than the one or more conduits of the fluid flow path by which the refrigerant is delivered. The liquid refrigerant may expand when it is injected into the balloon, causing a temperature reduction by the Joule-Thomson effect.
Once the refrigerant has expanded within the treatment element, the gaseous refrigerant must be removed from the treatment element and either reclaimed or vented to the atmosphere. For example, the medical device may also be in fluid communication with a vacuum or scavenging system for the recovery of the expanded refrigerant. Typically, a medical facility may include one or more scavenging system outlets built into the walls of the facility. However, the outlet may have any of a variety of configurations, depending on the country or geographic origin in which the facility is located. As a result, a cryoablation console must be specially adapted for each country in which the console is used. For example, a hose that is part of a console's gas scavenging system may be matably connectable to a United States scavenging outlet, but not to an Asian scavenging outlet. Predictably, this increases the cost and difficulty of using a single console in a variety of geographic locations.
Additionally, cryoablation systems are not the only scenario in which compatibility problems may arise. Specialty adapters frequently have to be adapted in other types of facilities, such as auto mechanics garages, laboratories, and water distribution systems. Like cryoablation systems, it is costly and inefficient to develop and use a plethora of hose or conduit adapters to connect to an incompatible fluid system.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a universal adapter that could be used to fluidly connect a hose or conduit, or other component, to any of a variety of system outlets without the need for a specialized adapter for each outlet type or configuration.